Harvest Crusade in Africa -- a history making event in 2001

On July 4, 2001 the Harvest Crusade came to Gwayi River, Zimbabwe -- via the Internet.

In July 2001, ROCK of Africa Mission welcomed outreach teams from ROCKharbor Church in Costa Mesa, California and El Shadai Christian Center in Cape Town, South Africa. Our California visitors wanted to share a hometown Southern California evangelistic event, the Harvest Crusade, with the people of Gwayi River by trying to access the live broadcast using the Internet. In rural Zimbabwe this could be quite a task, but recently a handful of small cell phone towers had been installed along the main tourist route from South Africa to Victoria Falls, and one happened to be within reach of Gwayi River.

The Southern California Harvest Crusade was being held at Edison International Field, home of the Anaheim Angels major league baseball team, in Anaheim, CA. The event was scheduled for 7pm local time (California) -- which was 4am on July 5 in Zimbabwe.  

On the evening of July 4, the village of Gwayi River met for a prayer meeting and was invited to return at 4am to "attend" the evangelistic event in California using a laptop computer connected by cell phone to the Internet. We had no idea how the village would respond, but everyone went home for a few hours of sleep.

Gwayi River, Zimbabwe is a very rural village of small huts, mostly mud and thatch construction. Because July is winter in Zimbabwe (Southern Hemisphere), the nights and early mornings are quite chilly.   Without heat or electricity, and in spite of 40 o F temperatures, the village of Gwayi River responded in a big way.  

By 4 am fifty people had assembled outside Gwayi River Church. Three wood fires were blazing and a large kettle of tea (approx 5 gallons) was steaming away on one of the open fires. Some young people had arrived as early as 3am. We handed out blue sweaters donated by a manufacturing company in South Africa to all who attended. After discussing the event, we showed an introductory video about the Harvest Crusade on the laptop computer.

There was much excitement and the spirit of the Lord was clearly evident throughout the crowd. Worship and praise broke out in the bright moonlight. We were "one in Jesus" with the crowd filling a stadium half a world away.

We had no electricity, no television and no telephone, but using a cell phone and a laptop computer we attempted to access the Harvest Crusade through an Internet connection, first in Zimbabwe, then South Africa. Because of our very remote location we had difficulty with the connection, eventually using the text of the event to deliver the entire message. The batteries went dead prematurely -- but it really did not matter. 

 The Lord moved in that tiny little village in the heart of Zimbabwe on that cold African winter morning and it had a powerful impact on all attending.

Greg Laurie's July 4 message "Hope for America" could not have been more appropriate. Zimbabwe is a country with enormous difficulty. With over one-quarter of the adult population infected, the AIDS virus is threatening to exterminate an entire generation. With this preventable disease destroying the country, the hope for America is truly the hope for Zimbabwe.  The clear message that there is HOPE IN JESUS is exactly what the struggling nation of Zimbabwe needs right now.

We are grateful to all who help us share the vital message of hope. We are very grateful to Greg Laurie and Harvest for providing live Internet webcasts of the Harvest Crusade that could now reach all the way to Africa.

The people of Gwayi River will likely never step a foot on US soil, but they shared in what God was doing halfway around the world. They understand they are a part of a moving of God that is much bigger than the village of Gwayi River, Zimbabwe. It is a clear example how God uses extraordinary technology to do extraordinary things. The ROCK of Africa Mission and the village of Gwayi River will never forget the day the Harvest Crusade came to Africa.

For more information on the Harvest Crusade visit www.harvest.org